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rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

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Fuck these fucking interesting times.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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You are here: Home / Are You Strong Enough To Be My Man?

Are You Strong Enough To Be My Man?

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Lara Logan has high standards for her profession:

“I mean, the question is, really, is what Gen. McChrystal and his aides are doing so egregious, that they deserved to end a career like McChrystal’s?” Logan asked. “I mean, Michael Hastings has never served his country the way McChrystal has.”

This is from a good Michael Calderone round-up of how the Kaplan Daily and ABC used a bunch of anonymous sources to try to smear Hastings.

Also, too, Calderone gets in a great Weigel dig:

(The Post published the entire fact-checking email between Rolling Stone and McChrystal’s now-former press aide online, coincidentally just hours after a Washington Post blogger resigned following a media controversy over the publication of supposedly private emails.)

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    Redshirt

    There’s a full fledged media freakout going on. It’s kinda awesome, and long overdue. Hopefully, it’s got legs and some progress can be made in breaking the crazy stalemate we’re trapped in.

  2. 2.

    MikeJ

    Pity to hear this coming from Logan. She did some decent reporting in the early days of the war. Guess she was just embedded too long. Stockholm syndrome.

  3. 3.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    “I mean, the question is, really, is what Gen. McChrystal and his aides are doing so egregious

    Well, er yes, Lara. We take civilian control of the military quite seriously here in the states. We got a piss pot full of generals, but only one constitution, and a military too big for it’s britches, gets a spanking when it needs one.

  5. 5.

    Violet

    “I mean, Michael Hastings has never served his country the way McChrystal has.”

    I think being a good reporter and reporting the truth is serving your country. But she’s right that doing such things is not the way McChrystal served.

  7. 7.

    Silver

    Again, why is the default position to suck the dick of anyone in a uniform?

    Members of the US Military kill innocent people all the time.

    In response to a question about reducing such incidents, McChrystal told troops listening to the town hall:

    “We really ask a lot of our young service people out on the checkpoints because there’s danger, they’re asked to make very rapid decisions in often very unclear situations. However, to my knowledge, in the nine-plus months I’ve been here, not a single case where we have engaged in an escalation of force incident and hurt someone has it turned out that the vehicle had a suicide bomb or weapons in it and, in many cases, had families in it.”

    He continued: “That doesn’t mean I’m criticizing the people who are executing. I’m just giving you perspective. We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.”

    Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for McChrystal said in an email to TPMmuckraker that “the general was urging his forces to exercise courageous restraint (by suggesting that it is unlikely that erratic behavior at a checkpoint constitutes a threat) while also expressing sympathy for the confusing and threatening situations in which both soldiers and Afghans find themselves.”

    Sholtis added that McChrystal “works harder at reducing civilian casualties than any wartime commander in a generation.”

    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/gen_mcchrystal_weve_shot_an_amazing_number_of_peop.php

    I wonder what a commander who doesn’t give a shit about dead innocent brown people would do? Apparently, as long as it isn’t explicit genocide, anything an American soldier does is heroic.

  8. 8.

    Mark S.

    @Phoenix Woman:

    Good for him.

    As for Logan, if the general isn’t smart enough to get the reporters out of the room before cracking open the Bud Lime Ice and talking shit about his superiors, that’s his problem, not Hastings’.

  11. 11.

    Linda Featheringill

    @Silver:

    why is the default position to suck the dick of anyone in a uniform?

    This is authoritarianism. It is sort of like a religion. To criticize one in authority is to commit blasphemy or something.

    Not all conservatives, etc. worship authority but people who do tend to describe themselves at conservatives.

  13. 13.

    LTC

    mccrystal violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He committed acts of conduct unbecoming of a United States Army officer…he could be courts martialed….he is probably lucky he was allowed to just resign ans slink away.

  14. 14.

    MikeJ

    @Mark S.: He didn’t even have to get the reporters out of the room. All he had to do was ask to go off the record. I’m sure the reporter would have gone along with it.

    As it was, everything he said, he said on the record. Anybody that stupid shouldn’t be in charge of a cub scout troop.

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    @Linda Featheringill: So true.

    Personally, I think it’s a question of responsibility. As in, conservatives are actually highly allergic, and quick to pass this hot potato onto someone (anyone!) else.

    I have noticed, and been appalled by, what is a seemingly American tendency to prefer letting others run your life, and letting it be screwed up, than to take responsibility and make decisions on your own hook; even if that’s more likely to make it not be screwed up.

  18. 18.

    fucen tarmal

    the not american media is examining the question of whether or not mcchrystal’s cozy relationship with karzai has a bearing on the issue. its a hell of a lot better of a thesis than the fwapping going on in our media about whether or not his primary offense could be overlooked.

    i mean if you stop to consider it, and how karzai has started effing with obama too, it might start to make some sense, that no, we can’t overlook the hero warrior’s “faux pas”

  19. 19.

    Emma

    I think that in order to be a political reporter you should have to ace an old-fashioned civics test. We could get rid of all the rotting fruit in an hour.

  21. 21.

    Mike Kay

    O.T.

    Watching Maddow, and she’s vigorously defending Kagan from the gop attacks, which has me shaking my head because Rachel spent an entire week attacking Kagan herself. You would think at her age and with her education and with her views, maddow, herself, would reframe from engaging in the same petulant knee-jerk attacks that offends her.

  23. 23.

    beltane

    McCrystal is the generalissimo. Michael Hastings is a mere citizen. We must all learn our place in this brave new world.

  24. 24.

    burnspbesq

    I can definitely imagine Logan singing some other parts of that song.

    “Lie to me,
    I promise I’ll believe it.”

  26. 26.

    beltane

    @Mike Kay: 34D Lara? Holy Shit. What is disappointing is that I thought she was a little more intelligent than the average bobble-head. They are all power-worshiping courtiers, nothing more.

  27. 27.

    gypsy howell

    I saw that Lara Logan interview. Her sycophancy towards authority was completely sickening . I haven’t paid much attention to her lately, but I expected better from her for some reason. Apparently all she cares about is that the military brass will likely shut off access to all reporters, including her. Waahwaahwaah. We learned more about our failed policy in Afghanistan and the increasing disrespect the military has for the country they’re supposed to be “defending” (and I use the term loosely) from Hastings’ one article than we did from 9 years of crap reporting from journalists who “respect their sources.”

    And that comment about Hastings “not serving his country”? She can just go fuck herself.

  28. 28.

    Mike Kay

    @Svensker: I don’t know, he’s put on a lot of weight since Gladiator.

    He’s gonna be like Brando, putting on 20 lbs, every decade.

  31. 31.

    Joseph Nobles

    I have a Republican friend who just got back from a tour in Afghanistan. The day McChrystal resigned, his Facebook status said, “McChrystal for Leader!” Not President, Leader.

    Actually, it was the husband of a friend. He seemed normal enough at his bachelor party on the paintball field. Ah, well. I’m pretty sure the guy doesn’t speak German.

  32. 32.

    Tom Q

    Like many, I was surprised to hear this from Logan, as she’s in the Dana Priest “one of the few mainstream reporters I actually respect” category. I’ve got to feel she knows/likes McChrystal too well to give the situation the cold look she would if it concerned a stranger. He may even be a generally good guy and general.

    Another reason for the adulation of military men in the culture right now — some, but not all of which is merited — is guys of the baby boom generation (i.e., guys my age) who were lethally cynical about the brass back in the Vietnam or Dr. Strangelove era, and have spent the rest of their lives trying to atone for that.

  34. 34.

    kdaug

    Bah, pox on both their houses – I’m an Ashleigh Banfield kind of guy. (Speaking hard, uncomfortable truths to power – and losing your career in the beltway media over it – is really frakin’ hot).

  38. 38.

    Brian J

    @Mark S.:

    Well said. I haven’t read the Rolling Stone article, but for those who have, let me ask, was there anything in there that was even remotely out of place or gratuitous? I haven’t heard of anybody mention anything. And if that’s the case, what the hell is she blaming him for besides simply being the open space where someone she liked shot himself in the face?

  39. 39.

    Violet

    Has anyone posted this? McChrystal to retire from the Army.

    General Stanley McChrystal, who President Barack Obama fired last week as the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has informed the U.S. Army he plans to retire, an official said on Monday.

  41. 41.

    Corner Stone

    @kdaug:

    I’m an Ashleigh Banfield kind of guy. (Speaking hard, uncomfortable truths to power – and losing your career in the beltway media over it – is really frakin’ hot).

    Plus those glasses! A mi me gustan las gafas!
    Lo siento, I’m still recovering desde el partido con Mexico contra the Texas of South America.

    Los liiiiiinks!!

  44. 44.

    IronyAbounds

    In answer to Ms. Logan (who, by the way, is married to a State Department contractor): Michael Hastings served his country in an extremely important way by writing that story. Civilian control of the military in this country is hugely important. Reporting on instances where that control is mocked by such high ranking officers is truly a patriotic act. It is unbelievable how utterly pathetic journalism in this country has become.

  46. 46.

    kdaug

    @Corner Stone: OK, I don’t really think “Liiiiiiinks” qualifies, but not bad. Let’s go to the googleplex: A, B

    For those who don’t remember – her career track went off the rails when she said (IIRC at a commencement speech) that the press was being pressured to support the Iraq war, and that speaking out was verboten.

    She proved the point. QED. Out. Poof-gone. Ashleigh who? Definitely not getting an invite to the squirt-gun parties…

  47. 47.

    Corner Stone

    @Violet: Interestingly, I was telling my Spanish tutor about that today during our session.
    I also mentioned the AT&T Aztec warriors one and how I didn’t get the overall significance of it.
    This led to a fascinating discussion of the Myth of our Cultural Heritage. Where essentially, people educated in countries in the Americas believe a certain set of myths about the Conquistadores, and peoples from Spain believe a different set.
    Really fascinating shit, at least to me.

  49. 49.

    Honus

    McChrystal’s a post-vietnam four star. I’d say his country has served him pretty good, too.

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @BrianJ #40:

    How long a pregnancy *is* this, anyhow? Seems to be at least two years and counting, if the HuffPo date on the story Keith G #35 linked to is accurate:

    Lara Logan Pregnant With Joe Burkett’s Baby, Couple Will Wed Huffington Post | July 8, 2008

  51. 51.

    Jenn

    I don’t think that it’s incompatible to think

    (1) McChrystal was in the wrong, and needed to resign, both because of the atmosphere he allowed, and his lack of judgment in shooting his mouth off.
    (2) McChrystal was a great General, who served his country well, and to be grateful to him for that, and feel sorrow that his career and service ended as it did.
    (3) Hastings is a bit scuzzy. “So you pretend to be friendly and non-threatening, and over time you ‘build trust’, which everybody involved knows is an illusion. If the time comes, if your editor calls for it, you’re supposed to f . . k them over.” Not being a stenographer=good; hiding your intentions and breaking trust = shitty.

  52. 52.

    Keith

    I mean, Michael Hastings has never served his country the way McChrystal has.

    That really doesn’t have much to do with reporting what Hastings saw/heard. And it was Obama who fired McChrystal, not Hastings. Does Logan think the same of Obama? And does it really matter?

  53. 53.

    hamletta

    Don’t be dissin’ Lara. She’s a damn good reporter with brass ovaries. She just happens to be wrong on this particular issue.

    She is a furriner, so maybe she hasn’t quite grokked the extreme importance of civilian control of the military and the history of uppity ‘Murrican generals.

  54. 54.

    Honus

    Someone with a long and distinguished career made some ill-advised comments on the record and it ended that career. I’m thinking of Helen Thomas here.

  56. 56.

    Mike Kay

    @Honus: you make a good point. Would lara be making the same defense if McQuack has said “Israel who?” and “Israel can bite me” and “Israel is a clown stuck in 1985”.

  57. 57.

    Laertes

    “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair

    Reporters are rushing to assure their powerful patrons that they can still be trusted to serve their interests and protect their secrets. Anyone who says a kind word for Hastings can kiss their career goodbye.

  58. 58.

    daveNYC

    @Jenn:

    (3) Hastings is a bit scuzzy. “So you pretend to be friendly and non-threatening, and over time you ‘build trust’, which everybody involved knows is an illusion. If the time comes, if your editor calls for it, you’re supposed to f . . k them over.” Not being a stenographer=good; hiding your intentions and breaking trust = shitty.

    Aw that’s bullshit. Everyone’s seen Almost Famous, right? If McFired is the sort of general who is suckered in by people smiling and being friendly, then no wonder we’re getting our asses kicked in Afghanistan.

  60. 60.

    Keith G

    @hamletta: I donno. Her statement was just plain stupid and that makes her a bit hinky in my eyes.

    “Sides of an issue” have nothing to do with my concerns.

  61. 61.

    Jenn

    @daveNYC:

    If you’ll notice my point #1, you’ll see that I said McChrystal deserved to be fired, both for what he said, and his lack of judgment. That doesn’t change my belief that Hastings is scuzzy. The 2 are not mutually exclusive.

  62. 62.

    GregB

    How about the douchebag custard shop manager who mocked Veep Biden about cutting his taxes and now he’s got his fee-fees hurt because mean old Joe Biden called him a wise-ass.

    What a dink.

  63. 63.

    kdaug

    @daveNYC: Beat me to it. Blonde hair and an Aussie accent will get you far up the chain of command.

    Saying “STOP! This is bullshit!”? Not so much.

  64. 64.

    Little Boots

    McCrystal is not the problem. The problem is we do not know what the fuck we are doing in this warlord torn islamic country, and we feel like we have to pretend we do. That is the problem. What is wrong with us? When did we get so fucking stupid?

  65. 65.

    Pliny

    I’m a laid back kind of guy, so I’ve been waiting for someone else to say “FIX THE FUCKING MARGINS!!!” but no one seems to have done so. Am I alone in the type-blocked-by-ads-and-off-the-screen-to-the-right universe? It could be worse, I suppose…

  66. 66.

    kdaug

    @Honus: Interesting – there was a certain aspect of “she was really old… she didn’t really mean it… she was remembering WWII…” to that whole coverage. But, goddamn, I can’t think of another person on the national stage who said what the fuck they thought – and who had such prominence, for so long.

    McPoofGone doesn’t get to slag his BS because he’s fucking .MIL – or ex.Mil now. I expect to see him on Fox&Friends within the week.

  67. 67.

    DonkeyKong

    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    @Jenn:

    That doesn’t change my belief that Hastings is scuzzy. The 2 are not mutually exclusive.

    Hastings did exactly what he is supposed to do. And he didn’t preface it with how much he loved somebody, nor what a great person and friend they are.
    He put it out there and let us make the call. That’s what I want from my scuzzbag reporters.

  71. 71.

    Little Boots

    And isn’t it a little embarrasing that 92 year old, ex Klansman Robert Byrd had a better grasp of reality, and how fucked up we are with our Empire lust, than pretty much any young pundit alive today?:

  74. 74.

    MattR

    Michael Hastings on Colbert right now.

    (EDIT: Colbert says – Hastings took advantage of McChrystal. All Generals do is fight terrorists. They are not equipped to deal with journalists.)

  75. 75.

    burnspbesq

    @Violet:

    Ooh, a Marshall Crenshaw fan. I knew there was a reason I liked you.

    Take a hold of my hand and come with me,
    Let’s go rockin around in NYC.

  78. 78.

    Delia

    I don’t know if McChrystal was a great or even good general or not. I’m not competent to judge. It does appear that Hastings tore the bandage off a whole mess of anger, dysfunction, and disaster in the Afghan war that the MSM knew all about but was trying to keep hidden from us. And Logan and the others will never forgive him.

  79. 79.

    Little Boots

    We don’t know what we’re doing in Afghanistan. No general can solve that foolishness.

  80. 80.

    El Cid

    Republicans are still working on their outreach to African Americans by using the Kagan hearings to trash Thurgood Marshall as a second rate legal mind who was an extreme activist judge who had a weird, suspicious sympathy with the weak individual over the powerful status quo.

    Marshall’s name came up 35 times during the first day of Kagan’s confirmation hearings, compared to 14 mentions of President Obama, by Talking Points Memo’s count.
    __
    There’s “no doubt he was an activist judge,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said of Marshall on MSNBC Monday. “Let’s admire the man for the great things he did, but let’s not walk over and wipe out the things that really didn’t make sense as an obedient student of the practice of law.”
    __
    The Salt Lake Tribune tracked Hatch down after Monday’s hearing to ask if he would have voted for Marshall, the man who successfully litigated Brown v. Board of Education not long before he joined the Supreme Court. “Well, it’s hard to say,” was Hatch’s response.
    __
    Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, likewise decried Marshall as “a well-known liberal activist judge” in his opening remarks during the hearing. Other GOP senators have sought to press Kagan on whether she believes that, as Marshall once said, “you do what you think is right and let the law catch up,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
    __
    And as Greg Sargent noted, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) decided to hit Marshall for “his unshakable determination to protect the underdog.”
    __
    “Perhaps because his first nominee failed to defend the judicial philosophy that he was promoting, the President has repackaged it. Now, he says that judges should have ‘a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people … and know that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens,'” Kyl complained.
    __
    “Kagan wrote a tribute to Justice Marshall in which she said in his view it was the role of the courts and interpreting the Constitution to protect the people who went unprotected by every other organ of government. The court existed primarily to fulfill this mission.
    __
    “And later, when she was working in the Clinton administration, she encouraged a colleague working on a speech about Justice Marshall to emphasize his unshakable determination to protect the underdog.”

    So, Republicans: Thurgood Marshall sucked, was a lousy legal scholar, and shouldn’t have been using the Supreme Court to protect all these damn worthless underdogs.

  81. 81.

    Little Boots

    Republicans are not the problem, when it comes to Afghanistan. Obama does not know what the fuck he’s doing, like his predecessor, and does not give a fuck. That is truly sad.

  82. 82.

    MikeJ

    @Little Boots: We did know what we were doing. We went to kill OBL. And I was pretty happy with that mission.

    Pity the Republicans were more interested in invading Iraq than killing bin Laden.

    Question: the failure to kill bin Laden meant we has to leave troops in Afghanistan. Did the GOP consider this a bug or a feature?

  83. 83.

    Little Boots

    Don’t get me wrong, I think Obama actually has a lot of compassion, overall, but when it comes to Afghanistan, it’s the same old, just kill everyone in sight and hope for the best. I do not give a fuck, just make it look good, because I do not want to know how fucked up everything is. Sad

  84. 84.

    Little Boots

    OBL is not there, not for a long time, Mike. Do you give a shit? Does anyone in power, do you think?

  86. 86.

    Violet

    @burnspbesq:
    I’ve got to get ahold of you, ’cause when I do
    I tell you something’s gonna happen

    Love Marshall Crenshaw. I was really disappointed he didn’t play “You’re My Favorite Waste of Time” when I saw him in concert, though.

  88. 88.

    Little Boots

    Now Mike and I must sort out this Afghanistan thingie, so please go play with your banana elsewhere.

  93. 93.

    Anya

    OT: Every-time I see Orrin Hatch, I wonder about his friendship with Ted Kennedy. Hatch is an arrogant asshole. His latest attack on Judge Marshal is despicable. I wonder about the nature of that friendship, what would Kennedy think of his friend saying that he is not sure if he have voted for Thurgood Marshal’s confirmation.

  94. 94.

    chaseyourtail

    Wow…Logan seems to be as useless as the war in Afghanistan itself. Sounds like Logan was quite happy to collect her fat paycheck without actually doing anything substantive. What a phony.

  95. 95.

    MikeJ

    Yes, I know OBL isn’t there. He was at one point. Bush let him go. So yeah, at this point there’s no reason to be there. Had they at the beginning just killed him, we could have said, “mission accomplished”, come home, and let Afghanistan go back to being a hellhole.

  96. 96.

    Anya

    @El Cid: I see you’ve already covered the Republican’s latest madness. I think they have nothing to lose with the African American’s so they’re gonna go all the way, but what about middle America? When is America going to be repulsed by the Republican’s overt pandering to the lunatics in their party and their craven disregard for the interest of the country?

    Sometimes I despair of my country’s eagerness to be taken hostage by the crazy 30 percent.

  97. 97.

    FlipYrWhig

    Judging by the Hastings media circuit today, I get the sense that he’s giving the grunts’-eye view of the war (it’s pointless, and we don’t have enough firepower to kick ass). Logan, by contrast, is giving the brass-eye view of the war (it’s been a mess but we can still turn this thing around if we trust the very smart and capable leaders now in place). I’m not sure I like either view, to be honest, but we’ll just keep fucking that chicken.

  98. 98.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Anya:

    Every-time I see Orrin Hatch, I wonder about his friendship with Ted Kennedy. Hatch is an arrogant asshole. His latest attack on Judge Marshal is despicable. I wonder about the nature of that friendship, what would Kennedy think of his friend saying that he is not sure if he have voted for Thurgood Marshal’s confirmation.

    I remember watching the Kennedy memorial and watching that lying, slimy asshole tell all these great stories about Kennedy and I thought to myself, “damn, Ted Kennedy was a much greater person than I, because I would have at some point done a Cheney and told Little Orrin to go fuck himself. Probably more than once.”

    I really don’t understand the Senatorial collegiality. These are people who are *entirely opposed to your world view, and are actively hurting your countryfolk,* and yet you treat them with respect they don’t deserve. WTF?

    This is different than having a republican colleague who may be a nice person and a great engineer. Their professional competency isn’t totally screwed by their worldview. I’d want the greatest heart surgeon in the world operating on me, even if he was a wingnut, because his surgery is not impacted by his idiotic views. But, damn, politics is altogether different.

  99. 99.

    asiangrrlMN

    @El Cid: And Marshall’s son was in the courtroom when at least one of those statements were being said. Sigh. However, I read in another thread that the baggers of tea want to recruit Asian Americans into their movement, so I’m ready to make me mad Michelle Malkin-like monies!

    As for Logan v. Hastings–I will take the latter any day of the week over the former.

    I love the Sheryl Crow song in the title, but this is my fave Crow song. Don’t hate.

  100. 100.

    El Cid

    @Little Boots: It’s an old skit — use any item, even done on Sesame Street — about how someone has some irrelevant object to keep the whatevers away. When the listener points out that there are no whatevers around, the first claims that this is all because of the irrelevant object. Thus, he’ll keep using the irrelevant object.

    We are staying in Afghanistan to fight Al Qa’ida. There are no real Al Qa’ida threats in Afghanistan. That’s because we are in Afghanistan. Therefore we will stay in Afghanistan, because we’re convinced that our presence prevents an Al Qa’ida resurgence. Later. Rinse. Repeat.

  102. 102.

    asiangrrlMN

    @El Cid: Yes! I hate Cheney and W. and these stupid wars and the war crimes we committed and BP and the oil spill and the GOP and all Republican talking points. I hate Palin and Bachmann and MM1 herself! I hate Lipton tea with a passion! Is that enough hate to make me MM1-monies?

    Or, since I’m now playing for the other side, I hate how Obama can look at things from different dimensions before choosing a course of action. I hate how Al Franken can be funny AND so fucking smart at the same time. I hate that Nancy SMASH! can speak in whole sentences without stumbling–and look so damn good in her sensible shoes at the same time. How’s that?

    And I still hate Lipton tea.

  105. 105.

    mclaren

    “…end a career like McChrystal’s…”

    Ah, yes, General Stanley McChrystal’s career. He supervised the torture of kidnapped prisoners in secret prisons and sent out assassins to murder vast numbers of women, children and old men whom he later admitted were probably innocent.

    What a career.

    The real question here is: Why isn’t Stanley McChrystal in chains and an orange jumpsuit in front of the international tribunal at The Hague for crimes against humanity?

  106. 106.

    Brachiator

    @Jenn:

    Hastings is a bit scuzzy. “So you pretend to be friendly and non-threatening, and over time you ‘build trust’, which everybody involved knows is an illusion. If the time comes, if your editor calls for it, you’re supposed to f . . k them over.” Not being a stenographer=good; hiding your intentions and breaking trust = shitty.

    Sorry, this does not comport with the facts. The Runaway general and his aides were never blindsided. There was no fuzziness with respect to whether or not they were on the record. And McCrystal had been called on the carpet before for his ill-chosen remarks.

    And the person who broke his trust here was McCrystal.

    @El Cid:

    Republicans are still working on their outreach to African Americans by using the Kagan hearings to trash Thurgood Marshall as a second rate legal mind who was an extreme activist judge who had a weird, suspicious sympathy with the weak individual over the powerful status quo.

    I caught some of this while listening to an NPR recap of the Kagan hearings. Unbelievable.

    Let’s see, now. Marshall’s legal career. Hmmm. Oh, yeah.

    Marshall won his very first U.S. Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940), at the age of 32….In total, Marshall won 29 out of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.

    Second rate legal mind? What a freakin’ insult.

    And then there is this:

    His most frequent ally on the Court (indeed, the pair rarely voted at odds) was Justice William Brennan, who consistently joined him in supporting abortion rights and opposing the death penalty. Brennan and Marshall concluded in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was, in all circumstances, unconstitutional, and never accepted the legitimacy of Gregg v. Georgia, which ruled four years later that the death penalty was constitutional in some circumstances. Thereafter, Brennan or Marshall dissented from every denial of certiorari in a capital case and from every decision upholding a sentence of death.

    These Republican goobers were not just trashing Marshall, but trying to assert that a crabbed, cowardly conservatism is the natural sentiment of the American people.

    Goddamn all these despicable Republican dimwits.

  109. 109.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Associations are very strange beasts. For example, it is virtually impossible for me to eat Italian food and not get sexually stimulated. I thought of blaming my ex the Sicilian, but this phenomenon pre-dates him. I think if we could figure out the individual psychology of associations we might know a lot more about the brain than we do now.

    Hi hon. T-2 days to I-day.

  110. 110.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Yutsano: I read that as “Associations are very strange breasts.” There you go. I proved your point. As for Italian food, well, duh. It’s just inherently sensuous.

    I know! I am so nervous and excited for you.

  111. 111.

    Anne Laurie

    @Pliny:

    I’ve been waiting for someone else to say “FIX THE FUCKING MARGINS” but no one seems to have done so. Am I alone in the type-blocked-by-ads-and-off-the-screen-to-the-right universe? It could be worse, I suppose…

    Last time this problem came up, it was reported to be a glitch between WordPress and Internet Explorer. I’m on FireFox, so I can’t see the problem, and even if I could, I don’t have the tech skillz to repair it, unfortunately. Any chance you can access a different browser?

  112. 112.

    2th&nayle

    @asiangrrlMN:

    And I still hate Lipton tea.

    Geez asiangrrl, that seems like of harsh. I enjoy different kinds of tea and I’m not that crazy about Lipton tea hot, but when I get the urge for some real ole down home iced tea, Lipton is my first choice. I also enjoy Luzianne for iced tea. Ok, I’m an uncultured slub…. sue me!

  113. 113.

    Warren Terra

    At his Harpers blog, Ken Silverstein notes that Andrew Sullivan snarked that the WaPo should hire Ms. Logan – apparently forgetting that his own institution employs Jeffrey Goldberg.

    Mote, beam, etc.

  115. 115.

    2th&nayle

    @asiangrrlMN: Nah, I’ll have to demur on the dueling. Last time they let me out I made an agreement with the Governor, “No More Dueling!” I will however meet you at dawn for a glass of tea!

  116. 116.

    Zuzu's Petals

    For all those who are surprised that Rolling Stone would be granted this sort of access, remember that West Point granted unrestricted access to an RS reporter a few years back, and he got a pretty interesting (not to mention flattering) book out of it:

    Absolutely American

  117. 117.

    Michael

    @Silver:

    I wonder what a commander who doesn’t give a shit about dead innocent brown people would do? Apparently, as long as it isn’t explicit genocide, anything an American soldier does is heroic.

    Give a gun and legal authority to a white trash redneck mercenary, er, make that volunteer, and he’ll have many heroic episodes of killing innocent brown people because that is how he will roll.

    Following that, he’ll demand decades worth of VA benefits in treating the personality disorder that he has that predated his “service”. You know, the price paid by a grateful nation for his selfless sacrifice in attempting to enlist in order to escape the trailer park.

  118. 118.

    Yutsano

    @Michael:

    You know, the price paid by a grateful nation for his selfless sacrifice in attempting to enlist in order to escape the trailer park.

    Mmm…I love the smell of righteous condescension in the morning. Seriously dude, if you got a beef with the military that’s fine, but throwing up a remark like this makes it rather difficult to take you seriously.

  121. 121.

    2th&nayle

    @Michael: You’re paintin’ with a mighty broad brush there Michael! You might want to consider easin’ up just a little before somebody around here takes offense. Where was it you said you served? Anybody that speaks with such authority as you do has surely been there, right!

  122. 122.

    Michael

    @2th&nayle:

    Didn’t say I did, and didn’t say I didn’t, which is the point – our “selfless heroes” should be subject to criticism regardless of whether the critic collected a salary from the DoD at some point in his or her life.

    I’ll will say that my observations and criticisms arise from my professional experiences, particularly from the past 10 years or so of my adult career.

  124. 124.

    Resident Firebagger

    I guess I’m the only one who believes this to be the best Sheryl Crow song.

    And sad as it is to see Lara Logan succumb to Stockholm Syndrome, let us not forget that Crow for years was with Bush’s cyclin buddy Lance Armstrong. Or that tons of Crow’s music ended up in commercials.

    Even hawt chicks aren’t perfect…

  125. 125.

    2th&nayle

    @Michael: First of all, I don’t personally know any veterans (particularly combat vets) that consider themselves to be heros; selfless or otherwise. I have no idea where you spend the last ten years of your adult career so I don’t know where you gained you observations and criticisms, but I suggest that you visit your local VA hospital waiting rooms and ask for a show of hands of everyone that considers themselves a hero. My bet is, you are not going to get many takers! I can’t help but wonder if you would put Pat Tillman in the white redneck mercenary catagory? What a jerk!

  126. 126.

    Kered (formerly Derek)

    I don’t think it’s particularly controversial to say that the military targets low-income people for recruitment because they have few other options.

  129. 129.

    mclaren

    @Bill Murray: Yes, McChrystal sent his assassins to murder astounding numbers of people in Iraq too, before he was assigned to Afghanistan.

    Instead of “assassins,” we should use the proper term — “death squads.” The general America put in charge of Afghanistan until that inconvenient Rolling Stone article put an end to his wonderful “career” was just another mirror-sunglass-wearing death squad commandante, not discernibly different from the death squad commandantes who raped and murdered those nuns in El Salvador and gunned down Bishop Romero in a church.

    How can I say that?

    Simple — when we study the recent history of American assassinations which are not secret, we find that 94% of the victims are innocent bystanders. To wit, the people assassinated by drone strikes. Those victims are weddings parties and innocent people attending funerals — only 6% are actual verifiable terrorists. There’s no reason to believe that McChrystal’s intelligence got any better when he used JSOC assassins instead of drones, so it’s a certainty that the overwhelming majority of people McChrystal ordered his death squads to kill in Iraq and Afghanistan were innocent bystanders, and for an obvious reason.

    Americans don’t speak the language in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re not part of the culture. We don’t understand their tribal affiliations, we have no idea the difference between a wedding party and a gathering of terrorists, so how could we “target” the murders of our death squads? We’re just blundering around murdering innocent bystanders at random (and occasionally raping them) and then covering up our atrocities by declaring the entire process “secret” and “a matter of national security.”

    Making a death squad commandante like McChrystal into a national hero remains one of the more sickening aspects of America’s descent into barbarism.

    Once upon a time, America’s military heroes used to be people like Dwight Eisenhower, who strictly punished reprisals against German civilians during the U.S. invasion of Berlin in 1945. Today, America’s military heroes are torturers and death squad generalissimos whose “careers” consist entirely of slaughtering innocent bystanders. It’s enough to make you projectile-vomit.

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